Jose Mourinho is the greatest coach of his generation and when his career is over he will be one of the most successful of all time. He may even be considered the best coach ever, but outside of Porto, Chelsea and perhaps Internazionale of Milan, Mourinho will be respected but not loved. He is his generation’s Helenio Herrera, the mastermind of Inter’s European Cup winning sides, which never waivered from catenaccio and were loathed by football fans. Mourinho had the chance to build Chelsea into a team like Barcelona, Ajax, Real Madrid, Celtic, Manchester United or Borussia Dortmund. Clubs which have developed a reputation for attacking football and won plaudits from the experts for the manner in which they won the European Cup. Chelsea will never ever be revered in the same manner. That will be Mourinho’s real legacy at Chelsea. Most neutral observers gleefully celebrated Thiago Silva’s tie winning goal in Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League match versus Chelsea. The oligarch club likes to be portrayed as a club with a tradition built on style and class. With Jose Mourinho as its manager, John Terry as its captain, and Diego Costa as its star forward that image is more a mirage. It is a club that few non-Chelsea fans love or respect.

While Mourinho and Chelsea were being eliminated from the Champions League, by 10-man PSG, Pep Guardiola and Bayern Munich were destroying 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk 7-0. The top stories on the night should have been about the Munich performance and PSG’s comeback. Instead we were subjected to Mourinho and Chelsea bringing the game into disrepute. Modern football coverage at its finest. It is laughable that Jose Mourinho said the fans that disgraced English football with their racist behavior in Paris recently were not representative of Chelsea Football Club. They are. On the field and in the main stand, Chelsea bears no resemblance to the club that existed in the 1970s and 1980s. However, it retains a core element that is racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic and xenophobic. Chelsea fans are still reviled by many clubs throughout England. The new money invested in the club might have improved its image around the globe, but not in England. Mourinho called “criminal” the tackle by Ashley Barnes on Nemanja Matic in Chelsea’s recent game versus Burnley. It was no such thing. It was reckless. It was a foul. It probably deserved a red card. Despite Mourinho’s hyperbole, Barnes’ tackle was neither illegal nor criminal. What Chelsea fans allegedly did on the Paris metro was criminal. Let’s not let facts get in the way of the story or the world according to Jose.